What the False Marketing of A Whitening Cream on Western Retail Sites Teaches Us About Beauty Standards

Beauty Guru and Vlogger Laura Lee has urged caution to her viewers when buying makeup products from Facebook Ads without checking the information of the brand first after she was mislead into buying a skin whitening BB Cream. Interestingly, the product Lee referred to, by the brand Bioaqua, is advertised differently when targeted to different locations. Whilst the official website of Bioaqua is no longer available, we have done some searching online to discover that the properties and uses of the same skin whitening product are entirely changed when advertised on Western retail sites.

Image from: Saloni.pk

On Amazon.co.uk, the product is titled: ‘Bioaqua BB Cream Roller Miracle Skin Perfect Scrolling Liquid Cushion BB Cream Flawless Anti-Aging Foundation With Thin Concealer CC Cream (Natural)’. On Solani.pkhowever, the product is listed as: ‘Bioaqua Air Cushion BB Cream Thin Concealer Whitening Perfect Cover’. The products advertised are exactly the same yet when speaking to a Western audience the brand has changed the listed properties of the product in order to not hinder sales. The selling points of the cream as listed on Amazon UK are as follows;

Scrolling it on your face,you can control the cream by the button.Precisely matches skin tone and undertone

This is a light weight powder coverage and super blendable BB cream foundation

This Innovative Roller helps to apply evenly and diffus imperfections and nourishes skin

It is also a good skin protector, protecting form any cosmetic hurting.

And yet, cosmetic retailer Solani has listed;

Perfect BB Cream For Makeup Cover

Thin Concealer

Flawless Makeup

Smooth Application

Natural White Shade

Extensively Absorbing Makeup

Long Lasting

Whitening

Sun Protection

Undoubtedly, the false marketing of a whitening product is ethically wrong, as Laura Lee explained “I just think if you’re advertising cool videos and this [BB cream] is going on people’s skin, really tan [skin], then maybe you should say that it’s a whitening product in the ad.”. Just as importantly however, is that this product makes it clear that the beauty industry has a dramatically different voice when speaking to women in different areas of the world, and, this needs to change. In order to cause and sustain positive action to remove the corruption within the Beauty industry; the way in which the world views female beauty must alter. Of course, brands are not going to change their products, or their marketing, at the risk of losing sales, and so, women must get to the root of the issue. Beauty standards are political. Beauty standards sustain racism, sexism, sizeism, transphobia and more. It is imperative that the oppressive rules of beauty are broken in order to make a positive change. So, speak up; change the narrative.